From grinding poverty to graduation

THIS IS MY DREAM…

From two students of People First Dhobi Village School – education for girls programme

My name is Prisha  I am I think about 14 years of age.

Before I came to this school I did not understand how it would change everything. If you cannot read or write, everything is like a blank page. Now everything comes to life.

Learning brings self-respect and confidence but also the respect of others. My parents after talking with the headmaster and staff of People First have agreed to postpone my wedding until I am ready and when my studies however long they may take are complete.  

This is a marvellous thing. If I were not part of educate girls programme at People First and without their support I could never get such an opportunity. My dream is to join the Indian Civil Service or even the Police as it is possible if I continue to work hard that I will indeed with the support of People First get the qualifications I need.

Prisha

My name is…. Saanvi

I am about 15 years old.

My family like all the families whose children come to the school are very poor. My brother always got more attention than me. I love school and I love the science subjects a lot.

When I came first in these subjects and looking at my work, it was agreed with my family and People First that they sign an agreement allowing me to follow my dream of becoming a veterinary. As a first stage I must get very good marks in science subjects, and others too, in my school leaving examinations and I am working hard. Until my brother and I came to the school not a single person in my family could even read or write. I may not achieve my dream but thanks to you I get to try .

Saanvi

 We have changed the names.... but nothing else  

Thank you so much for your support of children like these .

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Hi Everyone,

Greetings to all from Bihar!

Time for another report.

Dear me, friends and supporters, how the education system here in Bihar has been exposed as totally corrupt starting with the interview by a television channel of the top student in the state examination who acquired top marks in Political Science out of millions of students. When interviewed, she told the astonished reporters that Political Science was mainly concerned with cooking, which she pronounced as “Prodigal Science”. The government’s response (admittedly not their only response) was to arrest the girl concerned.

This is from First Post newspaper,

What will it take for our politicians to wake up to the crisis destroying the school education system? Not even recent revelations of the shockingly poor learning outcomes of Class XII toppers in Bihar have jolted the political class out of nonchalance. The latest disclosures from Bihar have sparked outrage among citizens and despair among students, who were feted one day and trashed the next, in full media glare. Butt of public ridicule, the students are however, victims of the system, not its architects

The 10+2 toppers scandal has ruined the careers of thousands of students in Bihar. The merit scam is the by-product of greed and a capricious political intervention in education, which paved the way for touts to flourish inside Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) system, varsity offices and other academic institutes. 

Wielding huge political clout, top education department officials distributed affiliation certificates to institutes for anything between Rs 1.5 and 6 lakh. Former BSEB chief Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh had given affiliation to over 200 such institutes in his two-year tenure, which is being investigated now. Kingpin of the scam and principal of VR College Amit Kumar alias Bachcha Rai managed to get affiliation for its 12 colleges, mostly fake, investigating officers say.

Former BSEB chief’s wife and former JD-U legislator Usha Sinha was principal of Ganga Devi College in the state capital. “Sinha would demand Rs 15 lakh for producing a state topper, while his wife took Rs 10 lakh for passing the failed candidates,” the preliminary investigation revealed.

The expose

It was a chance media discovery. The student who was declared arts topper in Bihar intermediate examination on May 20, talked of ‘Prodigal Science’ when reporters reached her for an interview. She explained the subject as something to do with cookery. “I don’t know how I am declared the topper. V R College principal Amit Kumar (Bachcha Rai) is very close to my father. I wanted to pass the exams with at least a second division,” she reportedly told the state’s Special Investigating Team.

The Board conducted a re-exam of 13 toppers on June 3. The student skipped the exam on health grounds. In the re-test, the expert’s committee cancelled the top positions of state science topper Saurabh Shreshtha and third state science topper Rahul Kumar after they failed.

So how do we work in such a system, why should I donate if the system is so broken?

It boils down to this, please read this from one of our sponsored students in higher education,

“Look in the end the responsibility for my learning rests with me. There are so many good teachers and genuine students and you can acquire the knowledge you need. What is the point of paying for an exam pass if you have no knowledge? It will become useless as soon as you get a job and don’t have the skills to do that job, let the cheaters fool themselves in an unreal world, we know the real world. We know poverty and we know how education and knowledge can lift you and your whole family and generations to come out of the black hole of ignorance, out of poverty and lead you to a better life.”

Finally lets here from Rajiv an ex sponsored student,

I got a People First Scholarship to study at college. Our family is very poor and no one was educated beyond class six. I graduated three years ago, and I now work managing the mid-day meal scheme in local schools. I cannot tell how the world of my family has completely changed due to this, not just financially.

My sister has a daughter and she is going to school every day, this would not have happened before.

Education can change things for whole families. For so much the better.

Poor families like mine who are fighting their way out of poverty with the help of the education I received

Thank you all for your support for this programme,

Rajiv (name changed) 

If you are thinking of giving another donation, please make it on giving Tuesday 29^th November as Global Giving has a record amount of matching funds which will make your donation go much further and help us feed many more children.

Please kindly make a note of it and, once again thank you,

Naresh Sir

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